Silvanesti (High) Elves

Proud and aloof, the Silvanesti consider themselves to bethe first children of the gods, the oldest and wisest mortalrace, and the keepers of the pinnacle of mortal civilization.They had grown frustrated with the world and removedthemselves from it as much as possible, hoping to maintainthe purity of their inherent superiority. Recently, however,Lorac’s nightmare, the sylvan shield, and the minotaurinvasion have thrown their society into disarray.

Physical Description

Most Silvanesti are taller and slighter than the Qualinesti,noticeably more so than the Kagonesti. The grace andbeauty of a Silvanesti is often described as ethereal;while humans and many other races find Kagonestiand Qualinesti elves beautiful, most find the beauty ofSilvanesti entrancing and otherworldly. Their skin is thecolor of white pine, with some even fairer still. Theirhair ranges from the light brown of maple to aspenbarkwhite, and it’s often worn in long, elaborate braidsand arrangements. A few Silvanesti are born with hairthe charcoal black of fire-tested firs; Alhana Starbreezeof House Royal is a notable example. Alone amongelves, a few very elderly Silvanesti men, even those withundisputedly pure bloodlines, have sometimes beenknown to grow a thin, wispy beard; this is considered themark of a man worthy of great respect, and most Silvanestiscoff at other races whose men dare grow beards beforethey reach the ripe old age of six hundred or so. Silvanestieyes are usually the rich color of walnut.Silvanesti dress is designed to showcase luxury. Loosefitting blouses and trousers with suede slippers or bootsare the norm for men and a full-length gown or dressfor women. Both men and women finish the ensemblewith flowing robes and cloaks—even the commonersare fond of such fashion. Both sexes wear a great deal ofjewelry; rings, bracelets, earrings, ornately buckled belts,necklaces, pendants, and brooches are common. Womenadd extensive ornamentation in the hair. However, muchof this extravagance had to be left behind when they fledSilvanost at the end of the War of Souls.When the situation calls for utility, Silvanesti will putaway the formalwear and use clothing more in line withwhat their Qualinesti cousins favor: sturdy leathers forwilderness scouts, utilitarian yet beautiful breeches andshirts with vests for artists, craftsmen, and other workadaySilvanesti, and slightly less ostentatious court clothing forwizards, scholars, and priests.

Psychology

The Silvanesti are members of the oldest and, by manymeasures, most advanced civilization on Ansalon. Someof the greatest mages, warriors, and artists ever known onAnsalon have been Silvanesti. The Silvanesti know thisand take it to heart, leading to a vast cultural superioritycomplex. They are among the most arrogant and selfimportantmortals in existence, and their air of assumedsuperiority regularly insults those of other races.The superiority complex carried by most Silvanestihas led them to become intensely isolationist, to the pointof xenophobia. For thousands of years, they cut off mostcontact with the outside world. The Silvanesti zealouslyguarded their borders, often violently expelling anyoneunlucky enough to cross it without permission. In times ofwar, they were likely to outright kill any non-elf found intheir beloved forest. Since the minotaur invasion evictedthem from their ancestral lands in the War of Souls, theyhave been forced to deal with other races far more thanany time since the ancient past.Silvanesti pride and assumptions of superiority havealso led to an intense sense of vanity. Before the exileremoved the luxury to engage in such things, Silvanestiwere extremely fashion conscious, and even to this day,those whose physical perfection is marred by visible scarsor disability are sometimes driven to breach the elventaboo against suicide.Recent history has not been kind to the Silvanesti:their homeland was infested by the Nightmare of Lorac;they were trapped within a life-draining magical shieldraised by their mortal enemy Cyan Bloodbane; they weredefeated and humiliated by the Dark Knights under Mina,then were occupied, slaughtered, and driven from theirancestral lands by minotaur. This string of defeats has leftmany Silvanesti bitter. Rather than the depressed malaisesuffered by many Qualinesi, Silvanesti have been morelikely to react by becoming caustic and angry.In contrast to the bitterness and anger expressed bysome Silvanesti, others have remained undaunted andoptimistic. As caretakers of one of the oldest and mostadvanced civilizations on Ansalon, the Silvanesti havehistorically been a very confident people. They believenothing is beyond their grasp as long as they expendenough effort and patience. Lorac Caladon, the Speakerof the Stars during the War of the Lance, personified thisconfidence when he unsuccessfully attempted to masterthe dragon orb. Surprisingly, even after being evictedfrom their lands, the morale of many Silvanesti remainsfundamentally strong.The Silvanesti are quick to anger. Over the millennia,their highly regimented and precise social structuresevolved an overdeveloped sense of etiquette and politicalprotocol; offense became easily given and quickly taken.Public airing of grievances and litigation were commonways for Silvanesti from different Houses to resolvedisputes. Within the same House, Silvanesti pridesometimes drives escalation of disputes to the pointwhere only a duel can resolve it. While dueling is usuallyforbidden between members of different houses, twomembers of the same house can resolve a dispute thisway. The antagonists agree on a weapon—usually a rapier,but sometimes a longsword—and fight to the first cut. Theduel is meticulously refereed; great care is taken that thefight is not fatal and permanent scarring does not result.Purposely attacking the face or hands, for instance, isgrounds for immediate disqualification and disgrace.

Names

Silvanesti are unusual among elven cultures in that many,especially among the nobility, have surnames. Men andwomen usually follow different traditions in the selectionof a surname. The determination of men’s surnames isstraightforward and follows a simple patronymic system;the son of Maradoc Caladon was Lorac Caladon, as thefather of Jahran Kaldeist was Yilan Kaldeist. Women’ssurnames are a bit more complex. One method is amatronymic system, where the daughter takes her mother’ssurname. Another fashion is for the mother and father toeach choose a one-word descriptor of the environmentas it is during the child’s birth. Names like Oakleaf,Starbreeze, and Moonborn are chosen this way. Furtherconfusing matters is that these systems occasionally crossgender lines, and a boy may acquire a name like Swiftcloudor Brightwind; a daughter may take her father’s less poeticname. Examples of given names for Silvanesti include:Lorac, Silvanoshei, Avonathalonus, Pellarin, Silvanas, andTerevalis for men and Aleaha, Ladine, Lisindrela, Maleesa,Roselenna, and Telisina for women.

Magical Practices

Silvanesti have a long and proud tradition as spellcasters.White-robed wizards and clerics of the gods of light havecalled upon the power of magic for thousands of years.House Mystic regulates the use of arcane magic amongthe Silvanesti. They do not maintain a monopoly on theuse of wizardly magic, although they might wish they did.Many other Houses use minor arcane spellcraft in theirwork, and a few of other Houses have even taken the Testof High Sorcery (with special permission of the Speaker)and been awarded the white robes. Typically, however,House Mystic is the only one to routinely produce wizards.Even now, in the exile, they have restarted their educationof young wizards, teaching the precepts of magic in dustfilledtents in Khur. Silvanesti wizards who pass the Testof High Sorcery and do not earn white robes are typicallynot welcome to return to Silvanesti society. One who earnsthe Red Robes may sometimes avoid being branded a darkelf if he voluntarily stays away, but he can expect to be solabeled if he forces the issue. See the Dark Elves sidebarfor more details. A Black Robe will be afforded no suchbenefit of doubt and will be banished as soon as word ofhis Test’s outcome gets back to the Speaker. Currently,with Silvanesti society in a state of disarray, many of theseformalities of the regulation of arcane magic are not beingobserved.Divine magic has, in the past, been wielded mostpowerfully by the priests of House Cleric. As formalrepresentatives of the gods, they dominated the use of thegods’ power among the Silvanesti. A few of other Houseshave also sometimes found favor with a god; healersof Quenesti Pah have sometimes appeared in HouseProtector, druids of the Blue Phoenix have sometimesarisen from Houses Woodshaper and Gardener, and theWinged One (Shinare) has been known to bless minorpriests among House Advocate. With the War of Souls,however, most of House Cleric was wiped out, and thetradition of divine magic among the Silvanesti seems to bewaning.Ambient sorcery was never embraced by the Silvanesti;few Silvanesti have the talent to wield it, and fewer still theinclination to challenge the traditions of House Mystic.Mysticism was more successful, with some members ofHouse Cleric learning the art after the Chaos War, and atiny handful of Silvanesti continue to study the Power ofthe Heart in exile.

Religion

For millennia, Silvanesti religious practices weredominated by reverence for E’li. They looked to the kingof the gods for inspiration, protection, and guidance. His his acceptance of mortality in order to protect his people from Queen Takhisis once and for all, did not dimthe love of the Silvanesti for him. Many exiled Silvanestistill light incense before their small shrines to thegreat god, revering even his memory.Quenesti Pah, E’li’s wife and companion, hasnow taken primacy among the gods of light from theSilvanesti point of view.Many despairing Silvanesti widows and widowers, theirhusbands or wives slain in the slaughter of the War ofSouls, now see Quenesti Pah as a kindred spirit. Whilemost of the universe may be cold and uncaring, surelythe Grieving Lady will hear, understand, and answer, many Silvanesti believe, for surely she weeps as theydo. Other Silvanesti take refuge in Astarin, the Songof Life, who inspires joy and determination among his followers.The peace and serenity offered bythe Blue Phoenix, Lord of the Land, Sea, andSky, and Matheri, friend of E’li, comfort many. Silvanestidevotees of these gods believe the way forward is to acceptwhat has happened and work tirelessly to set things right.The more militaristic Silvanesti turn to Kiri-Jolith, son ofE’li and the bringer of righteous fury from the heavens.Silvanesti steel and Kiri-Jolith’s might, his followers believe,will someday drive the foul bull men from their belovedhomeland. While many Silvanesti favor one or anotherof the gods of light, almost all Silvanesti publicly showreverence for the entire pantheon. Even Solinari, usuallyonly acknowledged by wizards, is given a place of honor bythe Silvanesti people.Silvanesti ritual tradition is in disarray. Most of HouseCleric perished during the War of Souls, defending theirtemples from minotaurs, so traditional leaders of divineservices are gone. Lay Silvanesti have tried to put thingstogether as best they can; most Silvanesti households inexile, whether in Khurinost or scattered in the Diaspora,have a simple shrine to one or more of the gods in theirhome. Communal services have just recently resumed,presided over by devoted laypeople rather than priests.A small but growing minority of Silvanesti havedeclared themselves secular. The high ritual of the realm’sglory days masked more religious indifference than mostoutsiders would have believed. Now, with their foresthomes lost, their people decimated, and the society’spriestly class nearly wiped out, more Silvanesti are publiclyturning away from the gods, believing they would befoolish to trust in them only to be abandoned yet again.A small number of Silvanesti find patronage in oneof the gods of neutrality. The Winged One is sometimesinvoked by bureaucrats, lawyers, and merchants.Chislev is revered by some of the members of HouseWoodshaper.A tiny but growing cult of Kinthalas (Sargonnas)exists among the Silvanesti. Some of those whosehearts were twisted by the terrible events of the Warof Souls have turned to the Lord of Vengeance forstrength, forming the Cult of the Bloody Condor. Thesedangerous elves have no patience with the Speaker orthe rest of the community; they lash out violently andwith terrible skill when someone stands in the wayof their schemes.

Folklore

Silvanesti folklore is largelycentered around twoperiods of time: the creationof the elves and the reignof Silvanos, founder of theSilvanesti nations. Elven creationmythology generally credits Chislevand Reorx with creating the worldand the High God with populating it. TheSilvanesti forest is, according to myth, the placewhere life first appeared on Krynn. The elves themselvesawakened in the Age of Dreams, even before the dragons(according to many Silvanesti legends, anyway), taking theforests for their home.Silvanos unified many of the elves, bringing themtogether as a nation rather than scattered tribes of forestfolk. Legends of his prowess as a warrior are many; talesof daring raids against the ogres, valiant battles againsthuman barbarians, and failed assassination attempts byjealous compatriots are numerous. His first calling of theSinthal-Elish, on the hill of Sol-Fallon, is the stuff of legendamong the Silvanesti as the first true organization of thenation. As detailed in the Chronicles of Silvanos, Silvanosbecame much more than a charismatic warrior thatnight—he became the Speaker of the Stars. His brilliantoratory under the crystal-clear night sky inspired the clanchieftains to join him; for centuries thereafter, the headsof what became the great Houses of Silvanesti boasted thatthey were there the night the great Silvanos united theelves.Further legend tells of Balif, a close friend of Silvanos,who led elven armies in battle during the First DragonWar. As written in the Song of Home Coming, Balif and hisCloud-Legion, later to become the Windriders, fought ongriffon-back for the first time and captured the spirits ofgreat chromatic dragons in runestones. Folklore says theirbodies formed the Khalkist Mountains. Other Silvanestilegends speak of the Pit of Nemith-Otham, where LordBalif cast these runestones.

Racial Traits

• +2 Dexterity, –2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence, –2Charisma. Silvanesti are graceful and cerebral, takingpleasure in beauty and knowledge. They are frailcompared to other races, and their arrogance is oftenabrasive—even to other Silvanesti.• Elvensight: Krynnish elves have low-light vision andcan see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight,and similar conditions of poor illumination. Theyretain the ability to distinguish color and detailunder these circumstances. Elvensight also includesdarkvision up to 30 feet. Darkvision is black and whiteonly, but it is otherwise like normal sight.• +1 racial bonus on Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraftchecks. The study of arcane magic is considered thehighest calling for a Silvanesti, and all young Silvanestiare given basic instruction in magical theory.• Automatic Languages: Elven. Bonus Languages:Common, Dwarven, Ergot, Goblin, Kenderspeak,Kharolian, Khurish, Ogre, Sylvan. Note that Silvanestido not automatically speak the Common trade tongueof Ansalon.